[lfc-news] Benitez looks to the past for Liverpool's future - Telegraph

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Daily Telegraph, 20 May 2005
Benitez looks to the past for Liverpool's future
By Tim Rich

Perhaps Rafael Benitez's only fault when he first came to Anfield was
that he had no interest in Liverpool's past. And where Merseyside's
glorious history was concerned, it was just something to be polished
like an old keepsake.

Whereas his predecessor, Gerard Houllier, was acutely conscious of
judging himself against what had gone before, Benitez appeared to have
no time for it until his wife, Monse, began reading an account of Bill
Shankly's time at Anfield.

Yesterday, as Liverpool prepared for their fifth European Cup final,
Benitez dipped his toe into the warm, deep waters of the past.

"To be mentioned in the same way as Bill Shankly or Bob Paisley would be
great because those managers built great teams at Liverpool," he said.
"I believe that we can bring great days back to this club."

Shankly never took Liverpool to a European Cup final - his best was a
semi-final against Inter Milan in 1965 - while Paisley won it three
times, an achievement Benitez will do well to match.

However, although Benitez recently talked about managing Liverpool for
20 years, as much in jest as anything else, should he win the European
Cup on Wednesday, he would be given all the time he could possibly want.
Liverpool are a club famed for their patience with failing managers, let
alone those who bring back the grail.

Nevertheless, he admits that reaching what is the ultimate test for a
club manager outstrips any of his considerable achievements in Spain
that include two championships and a UEFA Cup with Valencia.

"This is the most important game for me as a coach. Winning the UEFA Cup
and the league are very different feelings but to get to a final of the
Champions League in your first season as a coach in a foreign country is
very important. Some of these players will never get the chance again
and they must make the most of it."

Benitez relishes the fact that, unlike at Valencia, he has control of
the club from top to bottom. "Here, I am the manager not the coach," he
said.

"I am allowed to make decisions and, if they are the wrong ones, then
the fault is mine. The job is harder here because you have a lot more
responsibility but I don't mind that because I prefer to make the
decisions myself. In Spain the chairman and the sporting director can
take decisions and you can be sacked if they are the wrong ones."

Last year Benitez was preparing Valencia for a UEFA Cup final against
Marseilles, in which they were slight favourites to win. Few give
Liverpool much of a chance in Istanbul, although Milan's juddering
semi-final display against PSV Eindhoven and their limp finish to the
Italian season are weaknesses Benitez is keen to exploit.

"Milan have more experience but we are hungrier than them," he said. "We
know it will be difficult, but we have more time to prepare. They are
still playing in Serie A but we are able to focus just on the final and
we have all the team fit."

His opposite number, Carlo Ancelotti, cannot make the same claims and
Milan do not seem quite the peerless side who snuffed out Manchester
United and then, in the quarter-finals, brushed aside Inter, whose fans
were left to pelt the pitch at the San Siro with flares in a display of
impotent rage. "But I think it is normal that you consider them
favourites," Benitez said. "You look at their names and you think it is
correct that we should be underdogs."

Liverpool have been gaining steadily in assurance as the competition has
progressed. Milan's worst display was their last one in Eindhoven while
you would have go back to Benitez's autumn fixtures away to Monaco and
Olympiakos to find performances Liverpool would prefer to forget.

"I think people are believing in us more," he said. "After the game
against Bayer Leverkusen, when I saw the team come back with a stronger
mentality, I began to think that we had a chance."

As they prepare to fly to Turkey, Liverpool have more than a chance and
the past seems so close Benitez could almost stretch out and grasp it

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